Network Autocorrelation of Task Performance via Informal Communication Within a Virtual World

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caleb T. Carr ◽  
Paul Zube
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
World Of Warcraft ◽  
Online Game ◽  
Informal Communication ◽  
Online Groups ◽  
Network Autocorrelation ◽  
Virtual Group ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Individual Achievement

Network autocorrelation occurs when individuals receive assistance from others which regulates their own behavior, and it can be used to explain how group members may improve their task performance. This study explored how network autocorrelation, via informal communication within a virtual group, affected an individual’s task achievement in the online game World of Warcraft. Informal interactions between guild members during a 4-year period were collected and analyzed to assess how informal interactions with other group members affected an individual’s in-game achievement. Findings indicate informal communication from other group members (specifically the experience and helpfulness of the other members) positively predict an individual’s task performance, while tenure with the group negatively predict individual achievement. Findings are discussed with respect to network analysis and influence in online groups.

scholarly journals Possibilities of Psychological Intervention on Social Networks

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 35-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marek Madro
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Psychological Intervention ◽  
Personal Contact ◽  
Online Groups ◽  
Field Worker ◽  
Self Help ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Online Disinhibition ◽  
Self Help Groups

AbstractIntroduction: Nowadays we are looking for help and answers to our questions more and more often on the Internet. People use social networks to search for communities or groups whose members experience similar difficulties. These are often online groups that focus on psychological problems, domestic violence, etc. Members receive instant feedback and at the same time, due to the online disinhibition effect, they do not feel the fear, shame or worries they would feel in personal contact (Griffiths, 2005). The content of such self-help groups is not always helpful, but may rather induce pathological behaviour. However, the group administrator can influence the atmosphere in the group and its content itself (Niwa & Mandrusiak, 2012).Purpose: The purpose of this research was to find a space to perform professional psychological interventions inside online self-help groups on social networks. The concept of a field worker was used in this research. The field worker offers helping services to clients in an environment natural to them and where the worker can provide the client with emergency help during the crisis and prevent other clients from offering risk advices (Ambrózová, Vitálošová, & Labáth, 2006).Methods: We have conducted qualitative research using the method of content-frequency analysis. The sample for this study consisted of 10 closed online self-help groups focusing on topics such as depression, anxiety disorder, domestic violence, self-injurious and suicidal thoughts and tendencies, etc. For the purpose of this research we created an online group moderated by professionals, focusing on similar topics of mental disorders.Conclusions: The research results indicated that group members exchanged useful information (35.43%), described their current difficulties they were experiencing (32.33%), shared their own experiences (10.53%), and also published information on what had helped them manage the difficult feelings and situations they had been experiencing (6.39%). However, we also identified risky statements and threatening recommendations in posts and comments. Based on the results, we outlined the possibilities of online field worker interventions and described techniques of interventions that the professional can use for the benefit of group members.

scholarly journals Transformative (h)activism: Breast cancer awareness and the World of Warcraft Running of the Gnomes

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren B. Collister
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Civil Disobedience ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
World Of Warcraft ◽  
Cancer Awareness ◽  
Breast Cancer Awareness ◽  
Player Experience ◽  
Role Playing Game

Players of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft (WoW) are accustomed to a transformative culture that appropriates off-line events and personas into virtual-world representations inside of the game. Following this culture, players have transformed an off-line event—the Race for the Cure, to benefit breast cancer charities—into an online event called the Running of the Gnomes with parameters and participation properties appropriate for the virtual world. This transformative event is a disruptive form of civil disobedience including elements of hacktivism. Though the event conforms to the game's culture and rules, the mass collective action of the Running of the Gnomes disrupts the player experience by flooding the game's chat boxes with messages about an off-line concern (breast cancer) and also disrupts the game itself by crashing the server through the sheer volume of player participation. This disruption is embraced as an integral part of the event and is one of the primary causes for the event's success as a fundraising activity.

“I Rolled the Dice with Trade Chat and This is What I Got”

2012 ◽  
pp. 332-352
Author(s):  
Wendi Sierra ◽  
Doug Eyman
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Online Game ◽  
Multiplayer Games ◽  
Field Dependency ◽  
Context Dependent ◽  
Multiplayer Online Game

In this chapter, the authors extend Warnick’s (2007) appropriation of Toulmin’s (1958) “field-dependency” as applied through an ecological lens to examine credibility and ethos in the virtual world of a massive multiplayer online game. The authors theorize that ethos in such virtual environments is context-dependent—that it is in the interaction between designed game and user action/communication that ethos is engineered in a process that is fundamentally different from both websites (which are static) and other social media (where the environment is not nearly as much of an actor in the development of ethos/credibility). To better understand how players (as inhabitants of the game ecology) view the establishment of ethos, the authors collected in-game chat and near-game forum posts that included responses to requests for assistance or invitations to join a guild, and we asked our participants to evaluate these texts. The chapter uses the data collected about the perception of ethos to identify three key elements for successful demonstration of credibility in multiplayer games: specificity, demonstrated expertise, and experience.

The Quest for a Massively Multiplayer Online Game that Teaches Physics

2013 ◽  
pp. 292-316
Author(s):  
Ricardo Javier Rademacher Mena
Keyword(s):  
Education Research ◽  
Physics Education ◽  
Online Games ◽  
World Of Warcraft ◽  
Online Game ◽  
Newtonian Physics ◽  
Multiplayer Online Games ◽  
The World ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Massively Multiplayer

The last 10 years have seen explosive growth in the fields of online gaming. The largest of these games are undoubtedly the Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG), such as World of Warcraft or City of Heroes, which attract millions of users throughout the world every day. The last 20 years have also seen the growth of a new field of physics known as Physics Education Research (PER). This field consists of physicists dedicated to improving how we learn and teach the subject of physics. In this chapter, the author discusses his personal quest to combine PER with a MMOG and create an online virtual world dedicated to teaching Newtonian physics.

The Quest for a Massively Multiplayer Online Game that Teaches Physics

Gamification ◽  
2015 ◽  
pp. 930-955
Author(s):  
Ricardo Javier Rademacher Mena
Keyword(s):  
Education Research ◽  
Physics Education ◽  
Online Games ◽  
World Of Warcraft ◽  
Online Game ◽  
Newtonian Physics ◽  
Multiplayer Online Games ◽  
The World ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Massively Multiplayer

The last 10 years have seen explosive growth in the fields of online gaming. The largest of these games are undoubtedly the Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG), such as World of Warcraft or City of Heroes, which attract millions of users throughout the world every day. The last 20 years have also seen the growth of a new field of physics known as Physics Education Research (PER). This field consists of physicists dedicated to improving how we learn and teach the subject of physics. In this chapter, the author discusses his personal quest to combine PER with a MMOG and create an online virtual world dedicated to teaching Newtonian physics.

scholarly journals Levelling Up: Minors' Play in a Closed-system MMOG

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Jenson ◽  
Suzanne De Castell ◽  
Victoria McArthur ◽  
Stephanie Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Closed System ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Educational Setting ◽  
Online Game ◽  
Game Play ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
Massively Multiplayer Online Game

In this paper, we present a study of 182 youths (ages 9 - 17) playing a closed-system Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG), Guardian Academy. Its purpose was to investigate the online virtual world behaviours of youth under the age of 18 playing in an educational setting. We report on a mixed-methods study of minor players in situ across eight socioeconomically diversified educational communities, focused on characteristics, patterns, and trajectories of development of school-aged youths’ online play. The study has implications for other trajectories of MMOG research, particularly those concerned with distinctive features of minors’ play, the development of game-play expertise, and previous.

scholarly journals Creating an Online Self: Developing Virtual Identity in Online Group Interaction Spaces

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 18-31
Author(s):  
George King’ara ◽  
Deckillah Omukoba
Keyword(s):  
Identity Formation ◽  
Impression Management ◽  
Communication Theory ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Individual Group ◽  
Online Groups ◽  
Virtual Identity ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Dimensional Identity ◽  
Online Group

Online groups have pervasively become platforms for association and interaction. Hence, it is important to study how interactions on these virtual groups affect the selves of individual group members, and whether communication activities in these groups lead to formation of virtual identities of active members which is distinguishable from their non-mediated identity. To analyze the development of virtual identity, four focus group discussions of ten youthful participants each, who were members of various online groups, were conducted and eight social media experts were interviewed. Concepts of Communication Theory of Identity (CTI) and Uses and Gratification Theory were employed to analyze collected data in assessing how online group interactions that involve fashioning identity, impression management, anonymity and pro-social behavior lead to formation of online group members virtual identity. We first interrogate how these online groups shape behavior online by interrogating the individual group member’s conversations and actions online and paralleling them with their conversations and actions offline. Second, using the three-dimensional identity formation model (Crocetti, Rubini, & Meeus, 2008), we crystalize how these online interactions and behavior cause individual group member’s to feel, think and understand themselves in ways that promote a unique online-self, which we refer to as the virtual identity. 

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